'Ship That Brought Me Home'
First World War Real Photo Troopship Picture Postcard Listing

postcard of uss maui


In the period after the end of the First World War, very large numbers of military men were returned to the United States from Europe by ship. We then see a number of types of picture postcards, featuring the ships that were used to return the men. Some of the postcards were issued free to the men, while others seem to be commercial products. Some of those show a ship, and contain wording to the effect that the 'ship brought me home' or similar.

Most of the cards that are linked here are real photo picture postcards. I suspect that they were created by enterprising photographers and sold to returning soldiers. They are almost always found unused. This is probably because they were bought and kept more as souvenirs, than as postal items to be mailed. Recently, I've seen some 'ship that brought me' postcards that, while based on photographs, are actually printed picture postcards, and not RPPC's.

If you have the bandwidth, you can view ALL of the 'Ship Brought Me Home' card images. Try: this page with all of the troopship images.

Note that soldiers were given free Jewish Welfare Board postcards, so they could notify their families that they had arrived. These could be mailed postage-free before arrival or on the dock before disembarkation. Other such postcards of this type were given out by the YMCA and the Knights of Columbus.

I know little or nothing about the photographers and publishers who created these ship photo cards. The only consistent feature of these cards is the presence of lettering added to the negative by the photographer, to the effect 'The Ship That Brought Me Home' or 'The Ship That Brought Us Home'. (The photographer had to write this backwards on the negative in ink!) Note that I have also seen some of these images as full-sized photographs, some even as panoramic photos.

In the following listing, it is noted if a JWB card is known for this ship. Some of the ships shown here are listed as having a JWB card, but I have not seen any example. Notations are similar to those for the JWB listing.

[Note that some of these cards are from my collection, and others are 'found' images from the internet, which may not be of particularly good quality.]

Antigone

RPPC
RPPC
RPPC

Former: Neckar, (Seen on JWB cards)

Artemis

RPPC
RPPC

Post-War German
Not in JWB listing

Buford

RPPC
RPPC

U. S. Army Transport
(Sometimes named 'USAT Buford', sometimes 'USS Buford'.)
Not in JWB listing

Canonicus

RPPC
RPPC

American Cargo
(Not known on JWB cards)
Book Spelling: Cananocius

De Kalb

RPPC

Ex-German, USS Dekalb is known, (Seen on JWB cards)

Eten

RPPC

Previously unknown ship; it is listed on the Navy History web pages.

Finland

RPPC
RPPC
RPPC
Postcard

American
Seen on JWB cards

George Washington

RPPC

Seen on JWB cards

Housatonic

RPPC

Unknown Ship

Huron

RPPC
RPPC
RPPC
Detail of Panoramic Photo
Detail of Panoramic Photo

Former: Frederich der Grosse
Seen on JWB cards

Koningin der Nederlanden

RPPC

Probably Dutch (not in book)
(Not known on JWB cards)

Leviathan

Postcard [from photo]

Ex-German
Seen on JWB cards

Luckenback (Edgar F.)

RPPC [card has different spelling of name]

American Cargo
Listed as being on JWB cards

Manchuria

RPPC [poor]

Seen on JWB cards

Matsonia

RPPC
RPPC
RPPC
RPPC
RPPC

American Passenger
Seen on JWB cards

Maui

RPPC
RPPC
RPPC

American Passenger
Seen on JWB cards

Mercury

RPPC
RPPC
RPPC

Former: Barbarossa
Seen on JWB cards

Nansemond

RPPC
RPPC
RPPC
RPPC

Postwar German Cargo
Seen on JWB cards

RMS Pannonia

Postcard

Unknown [British?]

--phion

RPPC

Mystery Ship [letters before 'phion' are lost]

Princess Matoika

RPPC
Postcard
Article About This Ship [MPHS Website]

Seen on JWB cards

Rijndam

RPPC

Dutch
Seen on JWB cards

Siboney

RPPC

Not in JWB Card List

Susquehanna

RPPC
RPPC

Former: Rheim
Seen on JWB cards

Virginian

RPPC

Not in JWB Card List

Zeelandia

RPPC

Dutch
Seen on JWB cards

Zeppelin

RPPC
RPPC
RPPC

Post-War
Seen on JWB cards


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Updated March 10, 2020